Jesse Bazzul

Towards a Politicized Notion of Citizenship for Science Education: Engaging the Social Through Dissensus

Abstract:This theoretical article draws from the political thought of Jacques Ranciere to trouble some taken-for-granted conceptions of citizenship education. Rancieres notion of politics and dissensus (as opposed to consensus) can lay the groundwork for a version of citizenship that challenges what is deemed sensible, visible, who is counted in communities and on what grounds. This version of citizenship, based on politics and dissensus, disrupts the taken-for-granted social order and seeks to establish equality for those who are what Ranciere calls “the part of no part.” In science, math, and technology education this means rethinking how we approach social and political issues and civic identities, where consensus seeking and nonactivist choices for students prevail. I conclude the article by outlining examples of science education research that work to “redraw the lines” of the social (the social being the stakes of the political); in particular, the Idle No More movement, which is at the forefront o...

Diagramming Assemblages of Sex/Gender and Sexuality as Environmental Education.

ABSTRACT This article explores ethico/political/ontological orientations made possible by an exploration of sex/gender and sexuality. Drawing from materialist theorists such as Karen Barad, Gilles Deleuze, and Felix Guattari, we employ the concept of assemblages to tease out the reality that our shared world is always already in a state of queer becoming. We employ Deleuze and Guattaris concept of assemblages in the form of diagrams to illustrate that sex/gender and sexuality are phenomena that emerge from complex material and discursive entities—which are simultaneously biological/cultural, individual/collective, non-human/human. The implication of this article for environmental education is twofold: (1) Sex/gender and sexuality can be central to understanding how materialist and ontological considerations are vital to a politically engaged environmental education and (2) diagramming assemblages can help students and teachers map and imagine potential becomings, areas for critical engagement and political action, and new ecologically and socially just futures.

The ‘subject of ethics’ and educational research OR Ethics or politics? Yes please!

Abstract This paper outlines a theoretical context for research into ‘the subject of ethics’ in terms of how students come to see themselves as self-reflective actors. I maintain that the ‘subject of ethics’, or ethical subjectivity, has been overlooked as a necessary aspect of creating politically transformative spaces in education. At the heart of egalitarian politics lies a fundamental tension between the equality of voices (or ways of being) and the notion that one way of being or one voice may be deemed more legitimate than another; which in turn puts the equality of beings into question. Building from Michel Foucault’s work regarding ethics and subjectivity, I suggest that a ‘subject of ethics’ can be viewed, in part, as a series of relations of self that form the horizon upon which a subject comes to work on themselves relative to moral codes and power relations. Ethical relations of self can be a useful concept for those interested in educational research that furthers social and ecological justice. In the conclusion of this paper I also discuss the limitations of locating ethics entirely within a constituted human subject.

Reassembling the Natural and Social Commons

Since modern times, human activity has significantly altered the earth’s physical and biological composition to such an extent that scientists have now renamed our current time the Anthropocene (Lewis and Maslin, Nature 519:171–180, 2015). Such a designation exposes the arbitrary boundary between the natural and social world. Large-scale social phenomena and injustices such as deforestation, mass agriculture, slavery, and brutal conquests now permanently mark planet Earth’s living and non-living components. Such events are enacted within assemblages of material and discursive components that have a history and ‘life’ of their own. This essay argues for dissolving the boundaries between ‘natural’ and ‘social’, human and non-human, and discursive and material, so as to fuse the natural and social commons (Hardt and Negri, Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire [Penguin, 2004]; Commonwealth [Harvard University Press, 2009])—the purpose of which is to create critical, activist spaces in education, integral to the exercising of biopower via the (re)production of subjectivities. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s assemblage theory and a short series of diagrams, we attempt to provoke reconfigurations of the material and social world.

Exploring Ethical Relations to Self and New Ontologies

With the recent move towards activism and engagement with ethical issues through science education, it is more important than ever to examine the ethical dimensions of education and practice. In dealing with the issue of consumerism, and the economic regimes that challenge our ability to maintain healthy environments for community wellbeing, it is important to closely examine how students and teachers come to think of themselves as ethical subjects. In addition, it is important to understand that our social world has been bound by modern distinctions between what is human/non–human, biotic/abiotic, which may prevent communities from engaging ethically in issues of ecological and social justice. Using the work of Michel Foucault, Karen Barad, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, we argue for (a) a more complex understanding of the ethical subject in education through an understanding of relations of self along three axes: self to self, self to others, and self to the world; and (b) a reconsideration of the place of this ‘ethical subject’ by engaging social ontologies and new materialisms.

‘STEPPING’ Toward a Critical-Activist Science Education: Dialoguing Subjectivity, Social Ontology and Multiplicities

The following chapter is an interactive metalogue (Roth & Tobin, 2004) about the importance of subjectivity, creative ontologies, and multiplicities to a critical-activist science education. A fundamental premise of this chapter is that theoretical discussions are necessary to make sense of how educators may conduct critical, activist work. In employing a metalogue, we hoped to retain our separate voices and theoretical and political stances concerning subjectivity, poststructuralism, ontology/materiality, along with scholars we find important to these discussions; namely, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Michel Foucault. Using STEPWISE as a point of departure, we begin by discussing subjectivity and how an activist science education must also be critical. We then discuss the importance of an ontological dimension to a critical-activist science education using the thought of Deleuze and Guattari.

From Orthodoxy to Plurality in the Nature of Science (NOS) and Science Education: A Metacommentary.

This article provides a metacommentary on the special issue on nature of science (NOS). The issue is composed of senior scholars discussing Hodson and Wong’s (2017, this issue) critique of the consensus view of nature of science, which on a basic level states that there are agreed-upon aspects of science that can be taught in K–12 schools. Each author summarizes the salient points concerning the consensus view and offers constructive suggestions about what science is, how it works, and what is relevant when teaching NOS. Rather than summarize Hodson andWong’s critique or comment on whether the “consensus view”of NOS is helpful, I discuss the tension between orthodoxy and plurality and how this tension plays out in NOS discussions. All authors in the issue make suggestions that open NOS teaching and learning and science education to a diversity of contexts, knowledges, and practices. It is this movement toward plurality, away from orthodoxy, that is worthy of more attention.RésuméCet article est unméta-commentaire sur ce numéro spécial centré sur la nature des sciences/nature of science (NOS). Ce numéro comprend les analyses et commentaires d’éminents chercheurs au sujet de l’article de Hodson et Wong (2017), qui remet en question l’opinion de consensus qui prévaut en nature des sciences, opinion qui, à la base, considère qu’il existe en sciences des aspects sur lesquels tout le monde est d’accord et qui peuvent être enseignés au primaire et au secondaire. Chacun des auteurs résume l’essentiel de ce consensus et fait des propositions constructives concernant les sciences: ce qu’elles sont, comment elles fonctionnent, et ce qui est pertinent lorsqu’on enseigne la nature des sciences. Plutôt que de résumer les objections soulignées par Hodson et Wong, ou encore de me prononcer sur l’utilité de l’opinion de consensus en NOS, je me penche sur les tensions qui existent entre l’orthodoxie et la pluralité, ainsi que les façons dont ces oppositions se manifestent dans les discussions en NOS. Tous les auteurs présents dans ce numéro font des suggestions qui tendent à vouloir élargir l’enseignement et l’apprentissage de la NOS, de même que l’enseignement des sciences en général, à une diversité de contextes, de savoirs et de pratiques. C’est ce mouvement vers la pluralité, qui s’éloigne donc de l’orthodoxie, qui me semble digne d’une plus grande attention.

Transdisciplinarity, Critical Mathematics Education, Eco-justice, and the Politics to Come

This chapter proposes a vision of transdisciplinary mathematics education that takes into account the sociopolitical nature of mathematics education and approaches to sustainability that go beyond the savior status of mathematics. In the three sections of the chapter, we discuss transdisciplinarity by positioning mathematics as equal partner with other disciplines and worldviews, argue that mathematics and mathematics education should be also viewed as perpetrators in the sustainability and social justice discourse, and explore transdisciplinary mathematics education for sustainability in pedagogical settings. Finally, we offer a list of possible discussion questions for educators considering the topic of food waste.

Egalitarian Politics and the Dimensions of an Ethical Self

With the recent move towards activism and engagement with ethical issues through science education it is more important than ever to examine the ethical dimensions of educational policy and practice. In this chapter, I take a theoretical approach to ethics by laying out Foucault’s (1985) ethical relations of self. I argue that politicizing these ethical relations of self is the most viable way to meet the challenges of growing social inequality and climate change. While ethics and egalitarian politics may seem to go hand in hand, I argue that there are some antagonistic elements to the merging of ethics and politics—and suggest some ways to successfully merge emancipatory political perspectives with a focus on ethics as they relate to relations of self. While science education has not been a space where scholars have been encouraged to theorize, this must change if educators are going to find new ways of combatting social and environmental problems.

Science Education as a Site of Struggle

In this introductory chapter I outline the purpose of this research brief, which is to think more critically about ethical engagement from a political, structural/poststructural perspective. I argue that science education must be seen as a site of struggle if ‘wicked’ twenty-first century problems are going to be engaged through/by education.